


IwaOi Horror Week Day 5

by shikisaivivid



Series: IwaOi Horror Week 2k17 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Blood and Injury, Fantasy AU, IwaOi Horror Week, M/M, Plants, Prompt Fic, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 00:55:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12519252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shikisaivivid/pseuds/shikisaivivid
Summary: Iwaizumis work as a guardian was to protect the forest and magical creatures living there. He was warned about the dangers. He got attached.





	IwaOi Horror Week Day 5

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of IwaOi Horror week, Talent is something you make bloom.
> 
> This one is more heavy on the fantasy than horror, but it has its moments.

# Talent is something you make bloom.

Iwaizumi Hajime knew all along what he wanted to work with as young. He wanted to be a guardian of the forest and magical creatures. He told his parents as a young boy, and they both encouraged him to strive for it. He came from a family with a long line of healers, both successful in healing magic and herbs. Even if he did enjoy doing that as well, his call was the forest and magical creatures. Years past and he was working as an apprentice together with two other young men, Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi, before their master decided that they were ready for real work, real responsibility. Iwaizumi was so ready, more ready than ever.

The three of them were assigned to an older forest, to protect creatures and keep an eye out for the fierce wildfires that sometimes appeared during the warm and dry autumn. They were all dedicated to their work, to their call and everything was calm and peaceful.

As autumn proceeded, the peak of the drought came and they managed to stay on track. The calm and easy life soon was to end when Suga stumbled through the door, ash and soot covering his face.  
“There was a terrible fire at north side of the hills. Thank god for my water magic. But I’m completely exhausted. Could you two go and check the area?”  
“I can go, Daichi, you should stay with Suga, to be sure. I can handle it.”  
Daichi grabbed his shoulder, looking at him before nodding.  
“Are you sure?  
He asked anyway, Daichi was the most caring of them all.  
“Yes…”  
Iwaizumi gave him a small assuring smile before grabbing his coat, going out in the late evening. This was after all their work. To protect and keep safe.

Iwaizumi lightened up his lantern when he walked into the depths of the forest. Not yet dark, but the last ray of suns struggled to find their way through the thick leaf trees. Iwaizumi let his nose lead him, could easily smell the burned grass even though he still was far away. He let his eyes scan the environment when arriving upon the burned place. No hurt creatures, no suffering. When he just was to decide that everything was alright, he heard a low, whining noise. Iwaizumi scanned more carefully around him, until he saw something laying down, drenched in mud and other parts of the forest. It looked like another human.  
“Hey… are you alright?”  
He asked, carefully coming closer but was almost startled by the intense brown and ember eyes fixing him. The person stayed still, afraid? Maybe surprised? Or both.  
“I’m not here to hurt you, I will only help if you want me to.”  
“Yeah right, and you want me to believe that? You are quite stupid and dense human.”  
Iwaizumi was almost shocked by the voice, it was clearly male, with a sing-song voice, which could have been beautiful, if he skipped the insults.  
“Well, I can leave…”  
“No! I mean… I’m sorry… Please help me up, I’m stuck… And I hate mud… it’s really cold.”  
Iwaizumi crossed his arms, wondering what he should do, but those eyes were really pleading. A sigh left him before coming closer, holding out his hands, which the other one directly grabbed, pulling himself out of the mud, shivering. His hands was however very warm.  
“Where do you come from?  
Iwaizumi asked, grabbing his own lantern again.  
“Not from here… travel a lot. Thank you for your help. I owe you.”  
Iwaizumi raised one brow.  
“I just helped you out of the mud.”  
“I would probably have died in the cold otherwise.”  
Iwaizumi felt a bit lost, didn’t want to leave the still shivering young man there, he could desperately need a warm bath and some rest probably.  
“Come, you can stay at my house and clean up before you leave.”  
He could once more feel uncertainty from him, but took his time waiting for an answer.  
“Yes… Yes, that would be nice. What is your name?”  
“Iwaizumi.. Iwaizumi Hajime. And what is yours?”  
“Oikawa Tooru. Thank you for having me Iwa, I will not regret your kindness.”

Strange. That was the best word to describe Oikawa. He walked closely to him, but still not too close. And he talked, all the time. He could feel a slight headache coming up, could he ask him to shut up for a couple of minutes? An hour maybe? Oikawa was talking to him like they’ve knew each other a lifetime already. When they arrived back to the house Iwaizumi had as his own, he sighed from relief.  
“Would you like to take a bath and wash of some of the dirt?”  
“Only if it’s warm!”  
“So demanding…”  
He said, sounded annoyed but smiled for himself. Oikawa gasped.  
“Iwa-chan,you are being mean!”  
“What did you call me?”  
Oikawa just giggled.

Iwaizumi fixed with a warm bath, adding some relaxing herbs and turned his back away only to hear a loud splash, making him jump in surprise. Some water overflowed from the tub, soaking the floor.  
“Hey, could you at least try to bath decently?”  
He asked mockingly before turning his eyes to his guest. He was really curious, to see what he looked like, didn’t really get a good look at him when he was covered in dirt in the dark forest. It took him some time before he started to realize, that this was not some human he had brought home.  
“Don’t worry Iwa-chan. I won’t hurt you. I owe you my life.”  
Oikawa whispered to him from his place in the tub. Iwaizumi had brought home a spirit.

Iwaizumi did not panic often. He was truly calm, finding solutions and not getting stuck. But this shit was over his head. How many times had their teacher told them to not come close to spirits? He had told them every day, more than once. _They will trick you, then they will eat your heart._ He heard the words ringing in his ears. Still, here he was, having a fucking spirit in his house. A very chatty and slightly annoying spirit. Oikawa was sitting up in the warm water, cleaning his arms carefully as he was singing for himself. His body was as a human, but his arms had small sprouts of green and vines climbing up his arms and chest. Hair was golden brown and wavy, ending slightly above his shoulders with leaves and twigs sticking out. His eyes however were like ember. Golden brown with flicks of light, skin pale but freckles over his nose and cheeks. Mesmerizing. Iwaizumi felt so screwed and turned away, he was gloating at the other one. This was not good. Oikawa giggled.  
“Iwa-chan! Might I borrow something to cover myself with? I don’t usually meet up with humans, so I don’t usually use clothes.”  
Iwaizumi felt his neck heat up, he had been naked this whole time? _Get a grip Hajime! He is probably a bloodthirsty beast under this… pretty cover. Very pretty cover… No, stop it!_  
“I”ll get you something, just stay there…”  
Iwaizumi escaped the room to calm down and get what he needed. And cool his head a bit. He checked through his drawer, pulling out a black tunic and a pair of pants before feeling a weight on his back and two arms hugging his waist. It felt good, warm and comforting, before he could feel something on its way in under his shirt.  
“H-hey…. Stop that”  
Oikawa giggled and pulled away.  
“Sorry, they seem to like you and can’t behave.”  
Iwaizumi lost all the warm feelings at once and turned to look at him, seeing vines drawing back reluctantly. He turned his head away after his eyes wanted to start roaming his chest and down lower.  
“Here’s some clothes…”  
He grunted and showed the clothes to him. Oikawa beamed and grabbed only the tunic, covering the most important, but ended up high on his thighs, showing of his long, well-built legs, also them covered with green vines and occasionally small white flowers. Iwaizumi felt once more how screwed he was. And it didn’t get better when Oikawa totally ignored pants and started to study his house more on his own.  
“Do you live here all by yourself?”  
“There are two other guardians living in the house next door.”  
Oikawa turned to him once more, eyes on fire.  
“One of them with silver hair?”  
He spit out in anger. Iwaizumi felt something drop in his stomach.  
“Yes, but you can’t hurt him, I… forbid you to hurt him!”  
Oikawa seemed surprised before he sulked.  
“As you wish Iwa-chan.”  
He did not seem pleased. Iwaizumi followed him into the last room of the house, where he had his bed and a small kitchen. Oikawa crawled up in bed and taking a place there, with a big smile, like he had been there before.  
“Iwa-chan, I’m hungry! Feed your guest!”  
Iwaizumi glared at him, but still started to check for something to eat, before reminding himself that he needed to inform the other two about his trip there.  
“Oikawa… you need to stay here, I will just go and fix some things, then I will come back. But just… don’t leave?”  
He wasn’t sure if he would be able to explain for the other two.

After a short trip to the house next door, where he had avoided telling them about the spirit sitting in his bed right now, he returned. Once more he get to the other room where he left him but freezing in the door. Oikawa was sitting on the floor, eating raw meat with his bare hands, ripping piece by piece with sharp white teeth before swallowing. Iwaizumi felt sick, nauseous. Oikawa however lightened up when he saw him.  
“I made my own dinner, you don’t have to worry about me!”  
Iwaizumi tried his best to smile.  
“That… That’s good…”  
He looked away from the mess, but could still hear all the sounds. He had to try and fix this, get rid of this spirit and act like nothing ever happened.

It wasn’t as easy as he had thought at first. Oikawa was clingy and his vines even worst. Iwaizumi tried to find any written information about spirits and why they stayed sometimes, did they have any reasons to stay? At the same time he had to hide his existence from his co-workers, but Oikawa was quite content staying away from them, as long as he got to be close to Iwaizumi the time he was at home and not working. Oikawa exchanged some stories and learned him more of herbs he never heard of before, but was quite helpful. Expanding his knowledge. Iwaizumi enjoyed having him there, if it wasn’t for the raw meat thing, since he completely refused to eat anything else. When a week have passed, Oikawa was starting to get more and more antsy. Several vines bloomed, leaving a fresh and sweet fragrance all over his house. The smell almost made Iwaizumi dizzy and most of all sleepy. Oikawa was more clingy than ever that night, holding him close, emitting some small purring now and then. Iwaizumi was drawn into his hugs, nestling up to him in bed.  
“Sleep Hajime, you have worked so hard this week.”  
Oikawa purred, holding him close. For once, he did as he was told.

Iwaizumi woke up by strange noises, having a hard time to open his eyes. He felt sluggish and deadly tired, but his consciousness slowly came back. He tried his best to register all sounds around him in his muddy mind. _Someone is crying._  
“Oikawa?”  
He tried to sit up quickly but winced from the pain on his chest. His eyes fell down, sawing deep claw marks over his heart, fresh but not deadly deep. He swallowed the lump in his throat, looking around the room until he found Oikawa sitting on the floor, sobbing and cursing. Blood-covered white flowers were laying at his feet as he still was pulling them of his own body with force. More tears welled up for every flower being ripped away, blood trickling its way down his body but he didn’t stop until he saw Iwaizumi staring at him with fear in his eyes. Oikawa let out a cry before falling at his feet, hugging his legs.  
“Iwa-chan… please… I-I’m so sorry… this fucking flowers fault… they have that drugging effect on humans and animals and the thirst got so strong… I have to leave or I’ll kill you.. I just wanted you to be with me forever, I wanted to stay. But I can’t.”  
Oikawa sobbed between his words, caressing his legs before looking at him with tear streaked cheeks.  
“ I’m the spirit of wildfires. My work is to burn everything down so it all can start a new cycle and new life will grow. I know I’ve been a fool and burning too much sometimes, hurting and burning myself in the progress. Everyone just fear me so much when all I want is the best outcome for all.”  
Oikawa lowered his gaze.  
“I’ve felt more alive than ever staying here with you and I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I wanted to turn you into a spirit like me. But I can’t… I can’t hurt you like that. I can’t rip your heart out and make you into something when you have a life here.”  
He sunk down and cried even more. Iwaizumi was silent, had been listening to all he had to say. His chest ached, more than just one way. He let his hands slowly caress the spirits cheeks and lifting his chin to look into his eyes. Still those golden brown embers, filled with emotion. Iwaizumi wanted to be afraid, scared shitless and throw him out. But he wasn't. He was attached.  
“I want to stay with you Tooru, I really do…”  
He began before sighing.  
“But I can’t leave my life here. Not today, not tomorrow. But maybe one day.”  
Oikawa blinked, not looking away, sniffeling.  
“Someone need to make sure all living beings here will get strong again after you burn it down. We can do this together. We can be a strong team.”  
“But one day you will come with me?”  
“Yes, one day.”

The forest burned down the next day, the wildfire was fierce and brutal, but no humans or animals were killed or injured. Iwaizumi stopped both Daichi and Suga for going out there, shaking his head.  
“No, this needs to happen, so all things can be reborn.”  
Their houses remained unharmed and they soon started their works with helping the forest to rebuild. As time went by,new flowers unseen by others started to grow, soon also new plants. A completely new wildlife was able to adapt. Iwaizumi spent long hours walking around and studying, some of the new life was those things Oikawa had told him about, making him smile for himself. He did miss Oikawa, but he was a spirit with an important task to fulfill. One day he would be able to follow him. His hand traced the purple scars over his heart, they were healed but they ached. He felt like his whole body ached after Oikawa left, every part of him wanted to follow. Longing. One day they would meet again. _And this time, Oikawa will eat his heart._

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on my 6hour trainride last night and final adjustments this morning. So mistakes was probably made. Only two more days to go now! Feels almost sad you know. Even if these stories haven't been that scary at all at times, I have really enjoyed just sitting down and writing them! I'm way too weak for IwaOi...
> 
> Come yell at me at tumblr: shikisaivivid.tumblr.com


End file.
